Lehigh Sodexo employees and community gather for fair benefits

“When we fight?”

“We win!”

“When we fight?”

“We win!”

The protests of more than 40 attendees echoed by the crosswalk between Lehigh’s philosophy building and STEPS, chanting for the Sodexo employees of Lehigh to receive fair wages and hours as full-time employees. 

Sodexo Group, a leading food service company, is outsourced by Lehigh. The university hires its employees to work at various locations, including Rathbone dining hall, The Grind at FML and Lehigh’s other dining areas. 

Sodexo was named as one of the world’s most ethical companies for the third year in a row this year, but its employees rallied accusing the company of removing their healthcare benefits and pay. 

Students, faculty, union leaders, clergy leaders, elected representatives, endorsed candidates and food service employees at Lehigh gathered this evening to hear speeches and protest in an event hosted by Unite Here, the organization representing Lehigh Sodexo employees.

Ce-Ce Gerlach, Allentown city councilwoman and Democratic nominee for state representative of the 22nd district, is a candidate endorsed by Unite Here. She shared her ties go back to spring of this year, but her ties to the issue go back to 2008 when she was a student at Cedar Crest College.

She said in her speech that Ms. Marie, who worked in food services at the college, was the one who told her to stick with college even when she struggled. Gerlach owes her success to Ms. Marie. 

“Y’all deserve to work one job and be able to pay your damn bills,” she said to the crowd.

Tanya Edgar works at Lehigh’s Hideaway Cafe in HST. She said Lehigh Sodexo employees are fighting for a living wage and the hours that coincide with an appropriate salary. 

She said rising grocery, gas and rent prices are all primary concerns for her, and if her wages don’t rise with the aforementioned costs, she’s not sure what she’ll do. 

Full-time employees of Lehigh Sodexo are supposed to work 40 hours each week, and are paid biweekly.

“Unfortunately, if we do not get our living wages, some of us are living paycheck to paycheck,” Edgar said. “And that means we are one, even maybe two paychecks away from losing our utilities and worse.”

Charles Williams Bay, a Lehigh Sodexo employee serves meals at Stabler Arena and works on the negotiating committee. He spoke at the rally, sharing his story as a new father grappling with financial troubles. 

“My wife and I had a child in August last year. November, my hours were cut,” Williams-Bay said. “In January, I got a letter in the mail from (Sodexo) saying I lost my health care, because health care is connected to the hours (that) got reworked. First of all, healthcare here is super expensive. I bought it because I needed it, and to lose it was no fault of mine.”

He also said the union could have settled on a contract back in June, but employees said they’re going to continue to fight.

Among those fighting is Dorian Milliron, a Lehigh Sodexo employee for 15 years. She said she loves her job, but at times, her job doesn’t love her back.

Milliron came to the rally on her 15-year work anniversary, to the day, to speak out against racism and sexual harassment she has experienced while on the clock. 

“So my main thing for me is being a person of color that I get treated with respect and dignity,” she said. “I’ve dealt with things over the years but we thought we were past all that.”

One of Milliron’s experiences with racism occurred today and she said was a comment from another Lehigh employee. 

She said another Lehigh staff member came up to her as she was working an event on campus and someone said “Oh, glad to see you came off the post office wall.”

“At first, I didn’t know what they meant by that,” Milliron said. “So somebody Googled it so I could get the definition. Basically the meaning is that Black people are criminals, and you’re finally not on a wanted poster on the wall.”

She also has described instances while working Lehigh-sponsored events where guests, which may not have a Lehigh affiliation, “touch or rub” her in an inappropriate manner. 

Milliron said she has told Sodexo about the behavior, to which they said they will take action. To her knowledge, no action has been taken.

She also said she takes $600 out of her paycheck each month to pay for her healthcare supplied by Sodexo, but it doesn’t cover her other health issues. 

Milliron said she has a form of bone cancer and has had to use a cane at work for eight months. 

“I’m not giving up,” she said. “I love working here, so I just want better insurance and better quality of health.”

Brydon Burke, a Lehigh Sodexo employee, also said he showed up for his coworkers today. He works as a receiver in the University Center basement. 

Burke said as time has passed, he’s witnessed injustices.

He also said Sodexo always cuts breaks and doesn’t factor in half hours that have been worked. 

“There’s a clock system that goes by the hour, so if you work seven hours and 30 minutes they only pay you seven (hours),” Burke said. “It’s a really weird, terrible process.”

Burke was working 32 hours a week during June, July and August of 2025, but after Unite Here arrived on campus, he was back to working the typical 80 hours in two weeks. 

Les Lewis, lead senior external organizer at Unite Here, was in Biloxi, Mississippi when he said he got the opportunity to organize in his backyard, as he’s from New Jersey.

He got to Bethlehem a year ago today, and found out there was no union on Lehigh’s campus. 

Lewis said in 2023 a lot of colleges including University of Hawaii, Tulane University and Delaware State University all organized against Sodexo because they were overworked, undercharged and understaffed. 

Lewis helped lead that charge. 

Unite Here was already in an agreement with Sodexo upon arrival because of prior deliberations that the organization could talk to Lehigh Sodexo employees. 

Lewis said they made their voice known in November 2025, then won recognition at Lehigh. 

He said this means workers get three rights: Weingarten rights, right to representation and no unilateral changes which must be negotiated with the union and the third right, Lewis said, is the right to a voice.

Lewis said Sodexo was mandated to meet a collective bargaining agreement or a contract with the union representing the workers the first time. After that, it’s up to negotiation.

Sodexo is currently in a card check agreement with Lehigh employees, which means, according to the Roosevelt Institute, that employers voluntarily recognize a union when there’s  majority employee support rather than through the more formal process of a government-administered union election. 

Unite Here rallied this evening, however, because of negotiations that began this March.

At one point, Lewis said Sodexo walked out of negotiations in July. After that, Unite Here began passing out leaflets

“As long as we’re bargaining here in good faith, we don’t take any actions against the university,” he said. “But once they walked out, that opened up the door for us to get the story out to the students and professors.”

Lewis said Lehigh Sodexo employees could have settled over the summer, but workers unanimously voted not to do so.

“We are the backbone of the day-to-day operations at Lehigh University,” Milliron said. “We demand appreciation for all that we do.”